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How and why did America become a nation of thieves? Houses and cars are always locked. Theft protection and security systems are everywhere. Nobody is taken at their word. Enhanced IDs. Twice as many police per capita as a couple of generations ago. One out of 50 adult males in jail, one out of 20 was or will be.

And this is "our way of life" our soldiers are fighting to defend? How did things go so horribly wrong?

How and why did America become a nation of thieves? Houses and cars are always locked. Theft protection and security systems are everywhere. Nobody is taken at their word. Enhanced IDs. Twice as many police per capita as a couple of generations ago. One out of 50 adult males in jail, one out of 20 was or will be.

And this is "our way of life" our soldiers are fighting to defend? How did things go so horribly wrong?

It is partly because all of the rich pigs have taken everything, and so many have nothing. the rich pigs will be sorry when they meet their maker, though.

I believe it is created by the increased stress of wanting more than most folks can afford because the majority of household incomes has been stagnant or decreased over the last thirty years as a result of government economic policies. Even liberal amounts of high cost credit have not satisfied the demand created by advertizing. Eventually the underclass, and some of the middle class, realizes that more money can be made in the dope/robbery business than anything legal. More crime is the result.

How and why did America become a nation of thieves? Houses and cars are always locked. Theft protection and security systems are everywhere. Nobody is taken at their word. Enhanced IDs. Twice as many police per capita as a couple of generations ago. One out of 50 adult males in jail, one out of 20 was or will be.

And this is "our way of life" our soldiers are fighting to defend? How did things go so horribly wrong?

As a life-long Democrat and bleeding heart liberal, please forgive me for saying this, but the reason is a distorted sense of ENTITLEMENT that these people have. They have been on the public dole for so long that they do not value ANYTHING and believe that if they can get it - they are entited to it. Just ask a criminal who is charged with stealing. It is ALWAYS the victim's fault. "Well, they should have locked their door" or "They should not have left their purse in full view. Of course someone is going to break the window and steal it - they were practically asking them to".... etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

Criminals have no respect for themselves or for anyone else - mostly because they have never developed the self respect that comes with having a JOB and being a responsible citizen. They are no better than the rats who crawl through the dumpsters and just take whatever they find.

If we had laws and enforced them like other countries do (need I say which ones?) then you would not have this problem. I read recently where there is NO CRIME in Dubai because thieves are swiftly and harshly punished. If this country would stop being a bunch of panty-waist whimps, and took strong action against criminals we would not have to worry about or deal with it.

20yrsinBranson

Last edited by 20yrsinBranson; 06-08-2009 at 09:48 AM..
Reason: clarification

3) Because people move to the city, they are disconnected from their communities

4) People that are not part of their community have no problem robbing each other

5) Added to this is an increase in drug users, unemployed and alcoholics. They need money to fuel their addictions, and if they can break into a house and then feed their addiction for a week, that is what they will do.

Let's bring some sanity back to this thread. This forum isn't meant for the garbage I'm seeing here. Check out the forum rules.

This is a very good question and I'm not sure there is a concrete answer. A few thoughts:

1) The cost of living is very high and many people resort to stealing just to live.

2) Addicts. We have so many people feeding addictions that they have to steal to support their addictions.

3) General moral decline. There's no secret that we have become an immoral country and getting worse all the time. This is simply a result of that.

4) Disfunctional families. With more and more single and/or uncaring parents, kids turn away from family and turn to things such as petty crime to get their kicks.

5) Gangs. This is sort of a combination of #'s 3 & 4.

6) Lack of proper mental health care. When mental health care became very difficult to get and people who are supposed to flag this stuff (teachers...) became more apathetic (in general), these kids and adults slipped thru the cracks more & more. They steal to stay alive.

When our society changed from having an individual-rights basis to an excusatory basis, we basically told people who committed crimes against individuals that "they couldn't HELP themselves, it wasn't THEIR fault" - it was the fault of their peers/moms and dads/societal pressures/, but mostly the fault of big bad business not providing them with the necessary opportunity. So government became the provider of the basics; food, clothing, shelter, power, water, health care, even jobs to ensure that these sort of 'supports' were available. When a man finds out that he doesn't HAVE to work, or a woman discovers that she doesn't HAVE to be responsible for her own progeny, then the casual attitude toward others' lives and property became a norm instead of an abberration. It became a reasonable, even profitable, choice to live a life of unpunished or minimally-punished crime, up until one severely injured or killed someone. In effect we told society that it was their right to take away whatever they needed or wanted from the people who worked hard for what they got.

Punishments became carpeted, catered, air conditioned and heated, amenity-rich 'corrections' and no more correctional to behavior than were the government handouts. People developed the "You owe me!" attitude rather than "If I want something more, I'll have to work harder/get another job/change my lifestyle". The more people offended others' basic property rights, the more they were excused, pitied, given counseling and job training and all of the things that people who worked for a living had to pay for - if they got it at all. "Why work when the belly is full?" became the mantra for now two entire generations - with few exceptions. When education becomes a scorned pursuit, when career advancement becomes a definition of noveau-riche, when creativity and creation becomes a laughable and demeaning exercise of talents, then it all falls down. When those who make the effort to actually pull themselves out of poverty are met with insults and repudiation, then everyone in the society is pulled down, kept down to that level. And those who try to rise above it anyway are considered fair game for both the "have-nots", and the government supporting the have-nots, to victimize. Because THEY were successful, it is their bounden duty to provide for those who were not (and never had any inclination to be) successful.

But it isn't everywhere - not yet. There are still communities where property rights are sacrosanct; where people actually do not feel that they have a right to use/take/abuse others' property as they see fit. Where people's doors are unlocked on both their homes and cars. Where children wouldn't dream of taking a 'short cut' across a neighbor's property, or adults wouldn't even think of taking something from an unguarded dwelling or property. In these places, people who 'have' are seen as people to be admired, even aspired to; they are where everyone works, where there is very little crime, where there is no one to call on to pay your bills or to support your children. They don't advertise, they don't proselytize, they don't open themselves up to either the criminals or the government saviors who would come swooping in to save them from themselves.

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